Skip to main content

Amazon planning June discount event to jump-start sales, report says

The coronavirus crisis has hit some sellers hard, with many online shoppers in recent months focusing on essentials over other kinds of purchases while they wait and see how the pandemic pans out.

Hoping to provide a much-needed boost for its third-party sellers, Amazon is close to announcing a one-off “fashion summer sale event,” according to CNBC News, which saw an internal document about the initiative.

Recommended Videos

The event is set to start on June 22, and the online shopping giant wants to use it to “drive excitement and jump-start sales,” according to a message sent to sellers inviting them to get involved.

In other words, it’s aimed at providing relief for sellers struggling in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. It could also be a way of making up for Amazon’s reported decision to push its annual Prime Day event from its usual slot in July to August at the earliest, with the Wall Street Journal recently claiming it won’t happen until September. The decision to delay the annual 48-hour shopping extravaganza was apparently taken by Amazon after the coronavirus pandemic put pressure on its shipping operation, leading to delivery problems.

This month’s summer sales event is likely to last for between 7 and 10 days and offer discounts of at least 30% on select items. The event currently has a working title of “Biggest Sale in the Sky,” though this could change as many of the details are still being finalized, according to CNBC News.

It’s not clear if discounts will be applied to items across the site. The document mentions “fashion,” but this could cover part of the sales event rather than act as the main focus. It’s also not known if discounted items will be available to Prime members only, or to everyone.

While details are still fairly thin on the ground, we expect Amazon to go public with the plan in the coming days to ensure as many shoppers as possible get to hear about it.

In the meantime, Digital Trends has reached out to the e-commerce company for more information on the reported sales event and we will update this piece when we hear back.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Amazon deploys AI to summarize product reviews
Laptop on Amazon surrounded by boxes of tech gear.

Amazon has started using artificial intelligence (AI) to generate summaries of reviews for some of its listings.

The idea is that it will speed up the shopping experience for time-pressed customers who don’t want to trawl through endless reviews left by other shoppers.

Read more
Ouch! Some Amazon Prime members face a 43% price hike
Amazon logo on the headquarters building.

Some Amazon Prime customers in Europe are about to see the cost of their subscription rise by 43%.

According to Reuters, Amazon Prime members in the U.K., for example, have been told the annual fee will increase from 79 British pounds to £95, marking a 20% hike, while the monthly fee will rise from £7.99 to £8.99. Customers in Germany will see a 30% rise in the Prime fee to 89.90 euros, marking a 30% increase on the current annual fee, while Prime members in France face a 43% hike that will push their annual fee of 49 euros to 69.90 euros. Customers in Italy and Spain are also facing similarly steep increases.

Read more
Amazon sues 10,000 Facebook groups over fake reviews
Amazon logo on the headquarters building.

When it comes to reviews on Amazon and similar shopping sites, most people have by now developed their own approach to dealing with them.

Some use a blend of instinct and experience to decide if what they’re reading is genuine, while others scan a broad selection to try to get an overall feel for a product’s reputation. Of course, some folks simply ignore them altogether.

Read more